Have you ever found yourself standing in the toothpaste aisle wondering why there are so many choices to clean your teeth? Really, endless rows and rows of boxes all claiming to clean your teeth in new and exciting ways. So how do you choose? Where do you begin? For someone shopping for toothpaste, making a decision can be overwhelming.

It's like playing the game 20 Choices. Given a single problem, what are the top 20 choices you could make or decide? For children with impulsivity challenges, choosing the "wrong door" can be the difference between success and potential trouble. So how can we help them begin to filter through options when they are presented with many?

For fun dinner conversation starters, have a jar pre-filled with problem situations and have your child draw on slip out of the jar. A parent can read the problem and everyone take turns discussing possible choices - decisions. Some might be good decisions. Some, not so great. The point is to stop and think before "walking through the door" and making a right choice. You can even talk about the choice that was made and ask why it was made. This can give you incredible insight into the way your child is making decisions. Give it a try!

WHAT'S NEW

Mr. Ritter kicked off this year’s parent-led presentations. He talked about orthopedic surgery and the instruments that are used during surgery. He also talked about the various types of implants and other methods for fixing fractured or displaces bones and joints. But like everything we do, OF COURSE the students got hands on experience checking out real life instruments and tools.

Compared to the earliest discoveries of mankind, written language is still a very new construct. Over millennia, we have been quite literally rewiring our brains to read and write. In a sense, reading and writing could be considered one of the most commonly developed brain hacks.